1924 Summer Olympics
The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had already started on 4 May. The Games were the second to be hosted by Paris, making it the first city to host the Olympics twice.
The selection process for the 1924 Summer Olympics consisted of six bids, and Paris was selected ahead of Amsterdam, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Prague, and Rome. The selection was made at the 20th IOC Session in Lausanne in 1921. The cost of these Games was estimated to be 10,000,000 F. With total receipts at 5,496,610 F, the Olympics resulted in a hefty loss despite daily crowds of up to 60,000. The United States won the most gold and overall medals, having 229 athletes competing compared to France's 401.
Highlights
- The Uruguay national football team won the gold medal in football, which was recognized as a world championship by FIFA.
- The opening ceremony and several sporting events took place in the Olympic Stadium of Colombes, which had a capacity of 45,000 in 1924.
- This VIII Olympiad was the last one organized under the presidency of Pierre de Coubertin.
- The "Flying Finns" dominated the long-distance running, while the British and Americans dominated the shorter events. Paavo Nurmi won the 1500 m and 5,000 m and the cross-country run. Ville Ritola won the 10,000 m and the 3,000 m steeplechase while finishing second to Nurmi in the 5,000 m and cross country. Albin Stenroos won the marathon, while the Finnish team was victorious in the 3,000 m and cross-country team events.
- The British runners Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell won the 100 m and the 400 m events, respectively. Liddell refused to compete in the 100-metre sprint because it was held on a Sunday, and he was an observant Christian. Their stories were depicted in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire. In addition, Douglas Lowe won the 800-metre competition.
- DeHart Hubbard became the first African-American to win an individual gold medal in the Long jump.
- The marathon distance was fixed at, from the distance run at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London.
- The 1924 Olympics were the first to use the standard 50 m pool with marked lanes.
- Dual-sport athlete Johnny Weissmuller won three gold medals in swimming and one bronze in water polo.
- Harold Osborn won gold medals and set Olympic records in the high jump and the 1924 Olympic decathlon. His 6' 6" high jump remained the Olympic record for 12 years, while his decathlon score of 7,710.775 points also set a world record and resulted in worldwide press coverage recognizing him as the "world's greatest athlete."
- Fencer Roger Ducret of France won five medals, of which three were gold.
- In gymnastics, 24 men scored a perfect 10. Twenty-three scored it in the now-discontinued rope climbing event. Albert Seguin scored a ten here and a perfect ten on the side vault.
- The Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius was used for the first time at the Olympics. It had been used before by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, a French sporting federation whose founding members included Pierre de Coubertin. De Coubertin took the motto from his friend Henri Didon, a Dominican priest who had coined the phrase during a speech before a Paris youth gathering of 1891.
- Ireland was given formal recognition as an independent nation in the Olympic Movement in Paris in 1924, and it was at these games that Ireland made its first appearance in the Olympic Games as an independent nation.
- Originally called Semaine des Sports d'Hiver and held in association with the 1924 Summer Olympics, the sports competitions held in Chamonix between 25 January and 5 February 1924 were later designated by the International Olympic Committee as the I Olympic Winter Games.
- These were the first Games to have an Olympic Village.
- The Art competitions at the 1924 Summer Olympics were the first time that the Olympic Art competitions were contested seriously, with 193 entries in five categories. A total of 14 medals were awarded, though none were given in the music category.
Sports
Demonstration sports
- La canne
Jeux de L’Enfance
Venues
| Venue | Sports | Capacity | Ref. |
| Bagatelle | Polo | 598 | |
| Bassin d'Argenteuil | Rowing | 2,216 | |
| Camp de Châlons | Shooting | 395 | |
| Fontainebleau | Modern pentathlon | Not listed. | |
| Hippodrome d'Auteuil | Equestrian | 8,922 | |
| Issy-les-Moulineaux | Shooting | 41 | |
| Le Havre | Sailing | 541 | |
| Le Stade Olympique de Reims | Shooting | 420 | |
| Le Stand de Tir de Versailles | Modern pentathlon, Shooting | 82 | |
| Meulan-en-Yvelines | Sailing | 389 | |
| Piscine des Tourelles | Diving, Modern pentathlon, Swimming, Water polo | 8,023 | |
| Saint-Cloud | Polo | 7,836 | |
| Stade Bergeyre | Football | 10,455 | |
| Stade de Colombes | Athletics, Cycling, Equestrian, Fencing, Football, Gymnastics, Modern pentathlon, Rugby union, Tennis | 60,000 | |
| Stade de Paris | Football | 5,145 | |
| Stade Pershing | Football | 8,110 | |
| Vélodrome d'hiver | Boxing, Fencing, Weightlifting, Wrestling | 10,884 | |
| Vélodrome de Vincennes | Cycling | 12,750 |
Participating nations
A total of 44 nations were represented at the 1924 Games. Germany was still absent, having not been invited by the Organizing Committee. China, Ecuador, Ireland, Lithuania, and Uruguay attended the Olympic Games for the first time, while the Philippines competed for first time in an Olympic Games as a nation. Latvia and Poland also attended the Summer Olympic Games for the first time.The 1924 Olympics saw a return of the following nations: Austria, Bulgaria, Cuba, Haiti, Hungary, Mexico, Romania and Turkey.
At the time, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and Ireland were all dominions of the British Empire. India was also part of British Empire, but was not a dominion. For other sovereign states and the international community as a whole the term dominion, used internally in the British Empire, was very ambiguous, meaning "something between a colony and state". It was only years later with the Statute of Westminster 1931 that this ambiguity would be dispelled.
And Philippines was an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States.
| Participating National Olympic Committees | |||
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Argentina|1924 Summer|77 athletes
France|1924 Summer